TRUMP PLAGIARIZES EXXON – TIME TO BOYCOTT HIS TWEETS?

On Monday, ExxonMobil – the oil-and-gas behemoth that flatulated Rex Tillerson from CEO to running the State Department – released their latest big news. They were going to invest a cool $20 billion to “expand manufacturing in the U.S. Gulf region,” alleging this would create more than 45,000 “high-paying jobs.”

Lest we forget, scientific studies reveal that ExxonMobil and its precursor companies have emitted more than 20 billion metric tons of carbon dioxide – making them the world’s largest contributor to global warming. The quantity, as calculated by Friends of the Earth, represents somewhere between 4.7% and 5.3% of humanity’s total such emissions since 1882.

But the latest expansion announcement made Donald Trump ooze with ecstasy (I hestiate to say cream his jeans). He actually seems to have read ExxonMobil’s press release. Or at least enough to realize the White House should say the same thing. Literally. In what we might call a corporate coup d’jure, the White House announced:

“Exxon Mobil is strategically investing in new refining and chemical-manufacturing projects in the United States Gulf Coast region to expand its manufacturing and export capacity. The company’s Growing the Gulf program consists of 11 major chemical, refining, lubricant and liquefied natural gas projects at proposed new and existing facilities along the Texas and Louisiana coasts. Investments began in 2013 and are expected to continue through at least 2022.”

If you go to the oil company’s website, you will find (at the risk of boring readers, this is significant):

“ExxonMobil is strategically investing in new refining and chemical-manufacturing projects in the U.S. Gulf Coast region to expand its manufacturing and export capacity. The company’s Growing the Gulf expansion program, consists of 11 major chemical, refining, lubricant and liquefied natural gas projects at proposed new and existing facilities along the Texas and Louisiana coasts. Investments began in 2013 and are expected to continue through at least 2022.”

Look carefully, and there are two minor differences between the two announcements. “United States” got spelled out, in case anyone didn’t know what “U.S.” meant. The word “expansion” got removed from another line, since I guess that was obvious.

The rest is flat-out plagiarism. The White House shamelessly promoting a multinational corporate polluter!

But Trump didn’t stop there. Yesterday, he dished out a bunch of tweets and even dispatched a video touting his Secretary of State’s ex-“great company.” A
“special company, special people,” by the way. And in case we missed the reason for ExxonMobil’s latest success: “This is something that was done to a large extent because of our policies and the policies of this new administration having to do with regulation and so many other things.” realDonaldTrump, as his twit account is called, also used the moment to exult: “We’re already winning again, America!” Tell that to the next small town wiped out by the record-breaking gusts of a tornado.

These latest tweetings don’t quite take the cake, since last weekend’s claim that Obama wiretapped his Tower has that distinction. But it’s enough to make me suggest a new petition drive by somebody. I think we should deprive Trump of what he feeds on. He loves always being in the news and having his blonde dye job in the limelight. How can we convince all the news networks to boycott his tweets? No more attention to these unreal rants!